Parkland’s girls basketball team had high hopes coming into the PIAA Tournament, but knew that its road to a championship would be a difficult one, to say the least. First up was a tough Central Bucks South team, which provided more than enough competition, downing Parkland 45-27 to end the Lady Trojans’ season.

Haley Meinel scored 18 for CB South and Alexa Brodie contributed another 15 in the win. Holding the Titans to 45 points wasn’t a bad accomplishment, since they have the ability to score points. The problem came when Parkland ran into what a number of other teams ran into this season: the Titans’ defense.

Central Bucks South came out firing, nailing eight of its first nine shots to finish the first quarter with a 24-8 lead. From there, it was just a matter of playing defense for the Lady Titans, something that they’re especially good at doing.

“They’re a really good team and when they come out and hit shots early, they can make things really tough on you and that’s what happened,” said Parkland head coach Wes Spence. “Our girls never gave up, but when you’re down like that to a good team, the odds of working your way back are tough.”

Senior Rachel Medlar led Parkland with seven points, while Emily Piston and Kassidy Stout each had five.

The Titans (20-7) advance to play Souderton (20-8) in round two of the PIAA Tournament, while Parkland (18-9) sees its season come to an end. Local teams Easton (23-6) and Nazareth (22-6) also lost in the first round, while Northampton (18-9) advanced with a win over Central. Northampton will now play Abington (23-5) in the next round.

Coming into the season, there were a number of observers who saw Parkland’s season as being somewhat of a rebuilding year, with the loss of key players. Instead, the players talked about proving everybody wrong and they certainly did just that.

“I never really looked at it as a rebuilding year,” said Spence. “And more importantly, the girls didn’t, either. We knew there were some big holes to fill, but we also knew that we had some good young players who were just waiting for their chance to step in.”

Young players quickly adapted to their roles and it wasn’t long until Parkland rattled off wins in nine out of 10 games. A tough 31-28 loss to Nazareth ended a five-game win streak, but Parkland regrouped to win four of its next five, with just another three-point loss to Nazareth again interrupting the streak.

“Our girls never really got too high or too down,” said Spence. “They always kept fighting and stayed focused on one game at a time. When they lost, they shook it off and moved on, and when they won, they were happy about it, but knew there was another game right around the corner.”

As Spence has always pointed out, high school sports is all about finding ways to fill holes left by players who graduate and move on to college. This year, more holes open with seniors Medlar, Faith Nation, Devyn Anderson and Piston all graduating. Having found playing time for younger players like Claire Courter, Shelby Staib and Stout, some of the parts may already be there to fill some holes.

“You always have to look at those young players to step into the spots, but then, you have to find girls who can be the role players that Claire and Shelby were, and find players who can be the next Kassidy Stout and come off the bench,” said Spence. “It’s always a question mark on who is going to step into those spots, but somehow, it always tends to play itself out.”